Olivier Giroud is not enjoying a good time of it at the moment, or at least not any more - and won't be amused to learn his midweek replacement actually outperformed even his best games this season in a couple of areas.

Yaya Sanogo, making only his second start for the club, may not have scored - but his efforts throughout the difficult fixture with Bayern Munich cannot be faulted.

With his supply for goalscoring chances limited, barring an early effort from which he forced Manuel Neuer into an impressive reaction save, there were at least areas of his game which did shine through against the Germans.

Aerial Ability

- Yaya Sanogo won 10 aerial duels against Bayern Munich.

* This was a Champions League record for 2013/14, more than any player in any game.

* The figure eclipses Olivier Giroud's personal best for the season in any match. His top 10 can be seen below:

Player

Match

Matchday

Aerial Won

Olivier Giroud

Swansea vs Arsenal

06

9

Olivier Giroud

Arsenal vs Man Utd

26

8

Olivier Giroud

Arsenal vs Spurs

03

7

Olivier Giroud

Fulham vs Arsenal

02

7

Olivier Giroud

Man Utd vs Arsenal

11

6

Olivier Giroud

Arsenal vs Stoke

05

6

Olivier Giroud

Sunderland vs Arsenal

04

6

Olivier Giroud

Arsenal vs Southampton

12

5

Olivier Giroud

Arsenal vs Aston Villa

01

5

Olivier Giroud

West Ham vs Arsenal

18

5

Interceptions

- Yaya Sanogo made three interceptions against Bayern as he worked to get his team back in the game.

* This figure is higher than any Arsenal striker has made this season. In fact Giroud has only made more than one interception on one occasion, and then not as high as Sanogo's tally.

Player

Match

Matchday

Interception Won

Mins

Olivier Giroud

Swansea vs Arsenal

06

2

90

Nicklas Bendtner

Man City vs Arsenal

16

1

14

Olivier Giroud

Arsenal vs Chelsea

17

1

90

Olivier Giroud

Newcastle vs Arsenal

19

1

86

Olivier Giroud

Arsenal vs Fulham

22

1

90

Olivier Giroud

Arsenal vs Crystal Palace

24

1

84

Olivier Giroud

Man City vs Arsenal

16

1

76

Olivier Giroud

Arsenal vs Southampton

12

1

90

Olivier Giroud

West Brom vs Arsenal

07

1

85

Olivier Giroud

Sunderland vs Arsenal

04

1

89

While aerial duels and goals do not make for a win, it's hard to put together any kind of persuasive argument that barring being able to take the penalty instead of Ozil; Giroud would have done a better job than the youngster.

Sanogo has shown enough promise to argue that he should be handed a role against Sunderland at the weekend, a game where he should see far more of the ball, and ideally score his first goal in an Arsenal shirt.

Dan Coombs

Dan Coombs has been writing for HITC Sport full time since 2012 and has helped the website grow it's audience considerably during this period, while managing a team of writers. He has interviewed high profile names including Stuart Pearce and his work has been cited in Javier Hernandez's biography. In addition to football, Dan is a big fan of the NFL and NBA.